Don't Worry
by GhostiesandGhoulies
Summary: Clamping his eyes shut, Mikey waited for the impact... Opening his eyes he looked forward and expected to see a smirking foot ninja and a blade sticking out of his plastron. What he saw instead made his heart sink. The blue bandana fluttered in the wind. The figure had their arms outstretched to protect him from the hit, twin katanas in hand. He stumbled backward slowly, "L-Leo..."


**Hello there! Ghosties here, bringing you another Ninja Turtles story! I felt good about the last one and came up with this idea from listening to the song Nothing Can Be Explained from the Bleach soundtrack (listening to that might actually help the beginning of this story). Crazy right? Haha, anyways, onto the story!**

**Oh, wait one last thing. I don't own the turtles, they belong to Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.**

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Mikey felt like he was moving in slow-mo. He saw the foot ninja coming from the shadows and knew the blade was coming for him but his limbs felt like they were underwater. _Come on move faster_, he cried in his head. He felt the gasp leave his lips and his eyes widen, this was it. Clamping his eyes shut, he waited for the impact... He flinched as a liquid of some kind splashed onto his arms, he decided to chance it. Opening his eyes he looked forward and expected to see a smirking foot ninja and a blade sticking out of his plastron. What he saw instead made his heart sink.

The blue bandana fluttered in the wind. The figure had their arms outstretched to protect him from the hit, twin katanas in hand.

He stumbled backward slowly, "L-Leo..." Absolute terror filled him when his brother's form began to fall backwards. He ran forward to catch him, nunchucks forgotten on the ground. "LEO!"

Mikey kept his stance strong as his older brother's body fell into his, he used the momentum to lower them to the ground as easily as he could. Leo's katanas clattered to the ground. Panic raced through him like a bullet he eyed the wound on the other's plastron, it was deep and gushing blood. It was then he remembered the foot ninjas.

He looked up in time to see the devilish smirks on their faces. There were two of them. His face paled as he helplessly watched them raise their swords. He was frozen in shock. Their blades swung downwards in slow-mo. Would he die here with his older brother?

Suddenly a single bo staff and two sai's caught the katana's attack mid-swing. He leaned backward as flashes of green, red and purple leaped in front of him. Donny and Raph...

His focus on the fight broke when he felt Leo shift in his arms. Looking down he saw the blood and felt bile rise in his throat. No... he needed to put his hand on the wound and stop the bleeding... that's what Don had taught them. He glanced at his hand and back to the wound and then hesitantly pressed his palm on the wound. All his head processed was Leo's pained groan.

Regret registered briefly but was pushed back into the recesses of his mind. Focus on the wound. A hand gently laid on top of his own bloodied one. He followed the hand to an arm to a shoulder... Leo's shoulder. The blue banded turtle was giving him a small, bloody smile. Mikey couldn't return it, his mind was clouded with shock and worry. His worry increased tenfold when Leo's brown eyes began to slide shut. His mouthed moved to say something... what?

Leo's hand slipped from his and fell to the ground. Mikey eyes shot to the other's face, eyes closed, face relaxed. _Gods no..._ His body tensed as he felt himself take in a breath of air. He heard a hollow scream coming from someone... himself he realized. The blood had begun to seep through his fingers, Leo's plastron was still, his body was limp. His usually green skin was a sickly color now, it was too pale.

A different hand pried his from the wound, Leo was taken from his arms. He stared at his arms, blood covered them... _Leo's_ blood. Mikey couldn't look away, the iron smelll invaded his senses, the thick red liquid dripped from his hands. There was a hand on his shoulder, he realized.

He looked up and saw Raph's anxious brown eyes watching him carefully. Worry was there too, his face was grim. His gruff voice broke through the silence of his mind, "Mikey..."

The youngest turtle felt his body beginning to tremble his gaze dropped to his blood covered hands once more. Tears clouded his vision as he sunk further to the ground. He let a scream ripple through him, it sounded so haunted, even to his ears. He felt someone sink to their knees beside him and two arms wrap around his shaking form. He had lost his focus for a mere second and it had happened.

His mind slowly registered the wet feeling of his body, it was raining. When had that started? It was washing the blood from his hands, staining the puddles below with red droplets. He followed the blood trail to the end of the rooftop and before he realized he was crawling to the edge where there was a large puddle of red liquid. His hand aimed for the edge of the roof but fell and landed right in the puddle. Mikey's eyes widened and the terror of what had happened overwhelmed his mind. Black invaded his vision as he saw the rooftop coming closer to him. Then he felt nothing and saw nothing.

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Mikey's thoughts were muddled, _where am I, what's going on?_ Slowly he felt his mind trying to wake. He swam through the darkness to the single light in the distance. He kept pushing forward until hints of light were working into his line of vision. He rolled his head from side to side, forcing his eyes open. The light blinded him and he groaned. Almost instantly the light snapped off.

"Mikey...?" A gentle voice called from his left.

He opened his eyes again and began trying to focus on the figure watching him. Deep chesnut eyes watched him warily. Finally he was able to focus on the figure, "Don..."

A small smile. The purple banded turtle's eyes brightened some, "Hey Mike... feeling better?"

Mikey answered by forcing himself into a sitting position. It was then his mind focused on one thing. "Donny... Leo where is Leo?" His blue eyes searched his brother's face for any sign of emotion.

Donny simply let his eyes look behind Mikey.

Mikey followed his gaze and his sight landed on the said turtle laying on a cot a little ways off. He waited and kept watching the other's plastron, waiting for the rise and fall.._ Please..._ he begged, _please be alive._ And then he saw it, a gentle rise and gentle fall. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and fell back onto the cot. "Thank you..." he murmured to himself, "thank you, thank you."

Donatello let him mull things over for a bit and then spoke up, "He's alright Mikey... I managed to seal up the wound and get him back to us. He'll be out of comission for a couple of weeks but he'll be fine." He grew quiet, "And it's thanks to you."

Mikey glanced over at him, a confused look crossing his face, "What do you mean?"

Donny looked over at Leo, "If you hadn't caught him and put your hand over the wound he would have either had too much trauma and died or he would've bled out." His gaze landed on his little brother's face, "If you hadn't acted so quickly we would be down a brother and a leader."

Silence encased the room until a gruff voice broke it like glass. "Hey Don, is the knucklehead up yet?"

Donny tore his gaze away from Mikey and he went to he door. "Yeah he is..." he spoke quietly, "just don't be too loud, he's still getting over the shock."

Raphael entered silently and walked over to the bed. His gaze softened when he reached his baby brother, "Hey Mikey.. how ya feelin'?"

Mikey shrugged as he sat up slowly, "Can't complain..." He shivered and pulled at the blanket at the end of the bed. Getting it loose he pulled it around him. He sat in silence for a moment, "What happened?"

Raph gave him a startled look, "You don't remember?"

Mikey shook his head, "I do but it's all clouded like it's in muddy water."

Donny and Raph shared a look.

"There's not a lot to tell on our part..." Don began, "we were fighting some foot nin a couple of rooftops away from you guys when we heard Leo call out your name. We managed to break away from our fight and make our way over to you guys when we saw Leo leap in front of you and get hit. We took down a few more and caught the two elite's attacks mid-strike. I knew you would take care of Leo until I got done so me and Raph finished off the remaining foot in the area. You had gone into shock, Leo had passed out from blood loss. I took Leo out of your arms because you had started screaming, I knew I had to stitch him up fast so put him on my back and headed to the lair. Raph stayed with you and came in later with you in his arms."

Raph took it from there, "You kinda scared me Mike, you looked at me with this hollow look and then you started cryin'. I didn't know what to do so I ended up huggin' you and it started rainin'." He paused to collect himself, "You stared at your hands for a little and then you started crawlin' to the edge of the roof. I think you saw all the blood and you just passed out..." Raphael rubbed his head, "It scared me... thought you mighta been injured too but we didn't know it or somethin'.. I ended up carryin' you home 'cause you were too worn out."

Mikey thought about what his brothers told him wordlessly. Looking over at Leo he edged toward the end of the bed and pushed himself forward towards his eldest brother. Upon reaching the bed he looked him over carefully, seeing he was alright up close, Mikey slouched forward and wearily held himself up. He shook his head, "Idiot..." With that his legs caved in and he fell, Raph catching him at the last second.

"Whoa Mike," he murmured.

Donny studied Mikey's worn expression and then motioned towards the door, "Take him to his room Raph, he'll be more comfortable there."

Raph huffed and picked up Mikey on his back and carried him to his room. He carefully let his little brother slide from his back onto he bed and then covered him up. Watching him for a moment, Raph patted his head gently.

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Mikey sighed as he watched Leo glare at nothing, "Leo stop glaring at the air, you're hurting its feelings." He didn't have to look to know his older brother's eyes were on him. His gaze traveled down to the floor and then he spoke, "I know you regret getting in the way and ending up injured but you don't have to sulk so much..." He knew in his heart if given the choice again Leo would have opted to let him take the hit so he wouldn't have to sit around while his wound healed.

Leo's eyes shot to his youngest brother in shock. Regret? "W-What did you just say?"

Mikey's gaze hardened, "I know you regret stepping in the way of that blade but don't take it out on other things just because of that!"

Leo got up before his mind could process it and he grabbed Mikey by his shoulders and hauled him up to face him, "Listen here Mikey," he said sharply, "I might not like being injured but I do _not_ regret saving you."

Mikey gave him a look as if to say, yeah right.

Leo shook his head at the other's stupidity, "Dang it Mikey I don't regret it at all! If given the scenario over and over again I would always leap in front of that blade and take the hit for you because you're my baby brother and it's my job to protect you!" He continued after a breath, "I'd be ashamed of myself if I didn't take the hit. It's my job as your older brother and as your leader..."

Mikey simply stared at him and then burst into tears and hugged Leo tightly. "I know, I know, I know..." he whimpered, "I'm sorry.. I-I just... you scared me s-so much and I thought you had d-died on me... then I saw all of the blood and I just I thought you were going to leave us..." He couldn't say anything more and simply continued to cry.

Leo softened up as Mikey cried, "I'm sorry too Mikey... for making you worry."

Eventually the two turtles ended up on the couch, Mikey having fallen asleep during his outburst. Leo protectively rubbed his shell. "Don't worry Mikey..." he said quietly, "I'll always be here for you all, what kind of big brother would I be if I left my family behind?" Slowly he found himself drifting off as well._ Yes_, he thought, _don't worry.. I'll always protect you all with all of my strength until my last breath._

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**So how was that? Good? Bad? Average? Slightly above average? Sorry it was long... I had a lot to put haha. Hope you enjoyed this, I used a lot of Bleach music to help me through this, like Nothing Can Be Explained, Soundscape to Ardor and Here To Stay to name a few. R&R if you want!**

**~Ghosties**


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